Lady Tremaine
Lady Madonna Tremaine, also known as the Wicked Stepmother or Stepmother, is the main antagonist of Disney's 12th full-length animated feature film Cinderella ''(which is based on the 1697 French novel of the same name by the late Charles Perrault), and its sequels ''Cinderella II: Dreams Come True and Cinderella III: A Twist in Time. She is Anastasia Tremaine and Drizella Tremaine's mother, and Cinderella's harsh, selfish, and wicked stepmother and arch-nemesis. She is based on the character of the original fairytale. In the original film, she was voiced by the late Eleanor Audley, who later voiced Maleficent in the 1959 animated Disney film Sleeping Beauty. In the two sequels, she was voiced by Susanne Blakeslee. In the live action film, she was portrayed by the Academy Award winning actress Cate Blanchett. Personality Lady Tremaine is portrayed as a very refined, discerning, punctilious and collected person who never loses her calm, even when furious. She speaks with great courtesy to anyone, including Cinderella, while concealing her true feelings of contempt, and revels in her victim's torment. She is highly intelligent, manipulative and perspicacious, being able to recognize small details and to use them skillfully to serve her interests. She always makes sure that she does not have to keep her promises, while staying true to her words. Lady Tremaine is also shown to be very lazy and neglectful, not doing so much as a scratch of housework during and after Cinderella's time in the mansion. Once getting a hold of the Fairy Godmother's wand, Tremaine crossed the line of a greedy and selfish tyrant to a power-drunk and practically heartless criminal and was then seen not wearing an amused or satisfied smile but one that was truly evil. Whilst watching the events of Cinderella's happily ever after getting undone, Lady Tremaine displayed an expression of wicked satisfaction, clearly showing the sadistic glee that Cinderella's misery inspired in her. The very least that can be said is that Tremaine avoided crossing the Moral Event Horizon by never committing murder, even when she could. When she had Cinderella captured she ordered her banished instead of killed and turned the guards advancing to her into animals. Biography Cinderella Prior to the beginning of the story, Lady Tremaine married Cinderella's wealthy father, who wanted to give his daughter a motherly figure, and sisters in the person of Lady Tremaine's daughters Anastasia and Drizella. She also has a cat named Lucifer. After Cinderella's father died (though the cause was unknown), Tremaine revealed her true nature, smiling wickedly while Cinderella was mourning the death of her father, without even bothering to pretend mourning. During the following years, she wasted the family's wealth to spoil her bratty and obnoxious daughters and reduced Cinderella to a lowly servant, abusing her out of jealousy for her beauty and kindness. When the Tremaines are invited to a ball organized by the king to find a spouse for his son, Cinderella asks to go with them, arguing that "each fair maiden in the kingdom is invited". Lady Tremaine agrees under the conditions that she gets all of her work done and that she finds something suitable to wear, but Cinderella does not realize that she is giving her hopes to better crush them. While Cinderella works very hard to do the immensely quantitative amount of chores given by Anastasia and Drizella, her birds and mice friends make her an extremely gorgeous dress from the cloths discarded by the Tremaine sisters. When Cinderella shows up, prettier than the Tremaines will ever be, Tremaine recognizes the necklace she wears as one of Drizella's old pieces of jewelry. She subtly points it to her daughters, who tear Cinderella's dress to shreds in a rage, accusing her of stealing their clothing, cruelly breaking Cinderella who dissolves into tears. Fortunately, Cinderella attends the ball thanks to her Fairy Godmother who gives her a marvelous attire, and she and the Prince fall in love. Meanwhile, Tremaine spies on them because the unknown princess looks familiar to her and she hears them singing. The next day, Lady Tremaine learns that the Grand Duke of the kingdom is looking for the maid who fits the glass slipper that Cinderella lost in her hurry, so that the Prince could marry her. Overjoyed by this news, Cinderella starts singing carelessly, with her wicked stepmother recognizing her song and instantly figuring who the mysterious princess really was. Furious, she follows her upstairs and locks her in her room, keeping the key in her pocket. The Duke arrives and tries the slipper on Drizella and Anastasia but it does not fit. As the Duke prepares to leave, Cinderella arrives, having been freed by the mice who managed to steal the key. Lady Tremaine then resorts to a last underhanded and manipulative trick, tripping the lackey to shatter the slipper on the floor. She grins victoriously, reveling in the Duke's despair, until Cinderella displays the other slipper to prove that she was the one dancing with the Prince, leaving the Tremaines dismayed and ruined. Cinderella 2: Dreams Come True Lady Tremaine appears in the second film as an antagonist. She makes a short appearance in the first direct-to-video sequel, in which she tells both Drizella and Anastasia of an incoming ball that Cinderella is hosting for the kingdom. She demands both girls to find men of good wealth and nobility as she disapproves of the blooming romance between Anastasia (who is portrayed in a much more positive light) and a young baker apprentice. However, Anastasia decides that she is better off with the baker and breaks off her ties with Lady Tremaine, who storms off with Drizella. Cinderella 3: A Twist in Time One year after the first movie, Anastasia witnesses a meeting between Cinderella, the Prince and the Fairy Godmother; and gets her hands on the magic wand, accidentally turning the Fairy into stone when she attempts to get it back. Tremaine seizes the wand and uses it to travel into time, back when her daughters were trying the glass slipper. She then creates her own horrific version of a "happily ever after", more akin to a nightmare than a fantasy. She first bewitches the slipper to fit Anastasia's foot, verbally tormenting the bewildered Cinderella while making the second slipper "accidentally" fall in the staircase to destroy the evidence. When the Tremaines are welcomed in the royal castle, the Prince remarks that Anastasia is not the one he is looking for but Lady Tremaine magically alters his memories, all this being witnessed by Cinderella's mice friends. When Cinderella learns that the Tremaines have the wand, she sneaks into the castle and enters their quarters to get it back, while covering her face and passing for a servant. But Lady Tremaine recognizes her immediately before unmasking her, sending the royal guards after her and forcing her to flee. During the chase, Cinderella crashes into the Prince, who is eventually told the truth by the mice. The Prince, whose heart recognized his true beloved in spite of the spell, rescues Cinderella from exile and exposes Lady Tremaine's treachery, forcing her to teleport away with her daughters. Having realized that the Prince's feelings towards Cinderella are too strong for magic, Lady Tremaine resolves to replace Cinderella with a shape-shifted Anastasia before the wedding. She teleports Cinderella inside a pumpkin transformed into a coach (in a gloomy retelling of the first movie) and turns her pet cat Lucifer into a human coachman, instructing him to dispose of her for good. Fortunately, Cinderella manages to escape and she barges into the wedding, just in time to witness, to her amazement, a repentant Anastasia (who knows that the Prince will never love her for what she really is) saying 'I...don't', having realized she does not truly love the Prince. Infuriated by Anastasia's sudden conscience, Tremaine storms into the scene followed by Drizella. She turns all the royal guards sent to capture them into animals, and prepares to turn Anastasia into a toad, until Cinderella steps in to protect her, not willing to let Lady Tremaine harm Anastasia for trying to fix her happy ending. An unfazed Lady Tremaine decides to get her revenge on Cinderella and Anastasia by turning them both into toads, but the Prince steps in and uses his sword to deflect back the spell, defeating her for good and sending her and Drizella, transformed into toads, to an abandoned alley at some unspecified location. During the end credits, both Lady Tremaine and Drizella are restored, but are wearing scullery clothes identical to those Cinderella used to wear, possibly implying that they will be working in her mansion under Cinderella's authority as punishment for the cruelty she showed her. This was most likely an act of mercy by Cinderella, who did not wish to see her stepmother in prison regardless of the fact she deserved such a sentence. Besides, it can be implied that the King, who was absolutely outraged by their actions, will not go easy on them. Alternatively, it may be possible that rather than being punished by Cinderella or the King, they were just restored with scullery clothes to humiliate them and were either exiled from the kingdom or forced to take the long road back to their mansion, but without any chance of becoming part of the royalty. House of Mouse Lady Tremaine is the manior guest of House of Mouse. Mickey's House of Villains Lady Treamine is the minor guest to cheer Mickey Mouse. Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Lady Termaine also makes an appearance in the video game Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, the prequel of Kingdom Hearts, as one of the minor antagonists, but not as a boss. In many ways, she remains the same as in the movies, but when Aqua plays a role in helping the Grand Duke find Cinderella and matching the slipper, Tremaine vengefully vows to end her stepdaughter's happiness. This surge of negative emotions creates an Unversed in the shape of a pumpkin carriage. However, Tremaine's negative emotions prove to be her downfall as she cannot control the unversed which proceeds to blow her and her daughters away with a fireball. Once Upon A Time First Iteration Lady Tremaine appears in cameo only in the Season 1 episode "The Price of Gold", portrayed by an unknown actress, as inhabitants of the Enchanted Forest. A carriage is seen parked on the outside of her private property, and she, with her daughters, make their way toward it, wearing evening gowns. Lady Tremaine enters the chariot first, followed by her two daughters. Soon afterward, we are treated to the sight of her stepdaughter, Ella, dressed in rather unfair rags. The poor blonde looks with sadness at her stepfamily as they leave their property on the carriage, headed to the prince's ball. After the curse thrown by the Evil Queen, it was explained that Lady Tremaine lives plausibly (it was not the case) with her daughters in Storybrooke and has cut any ties with Cinderella. Lady Tremaine returned, and was properly featured, in the Season 6 episode "The Other Shoe", portrayed by Lisa Banes. In addition to being cruel to Ella, she is equally cruel to one of her daughters, Clorinda, when she finds out the latter is planning to run away with the prince's footman, instead of a more noble man, to the Land of Untold Stories. Ella tries to stop her from killing the footman, but when she sees Ella's engagement ring from the prince, she grabs the key to open the portal to the aforementioned realm taking Clorinda with her. She is sent to Storybrooke along with her daughter and with the help of the Evil Queen testing her own nemesis Emma Swan, they lure Ella into a trap. But Ella reveals that Clorinda's lost love is in Storybrooke, and Lady Tremaine tries to kill him and her daughter, only to have Ella step in front of the lovers. She takes her walking stick and fatally stabs Ella, but then Emma Swan uses her magic to heal Ella thus ruining the woman's plan. She is eventually arrested and forced to do community service, which involved picking up trash around town. Second Iteration Another version of Lady Tremaine, portrayed by Gabrielle Anwar, made her debut in the Season 7 premiere episode, "Hyperion Heights". She is the primary antagonist of the first half of the seventh season, along with Drizella and Mother Gothel, who have teamed up against her. Here, she is also Rapunzel. Marrying Marcus, Rapunzel gains two daughters. One night, Marcus falls ill and in the brink of death, Rapunzel is forced to make a deal with Mother Gothel, resulting in her imprisonment in a tower. Six years later, Rapunzel escapes and reunites with her family, but finds that Marcus had married Cecelia and has a stepdaughter. As she struggled to adapt, Mother Gothel offers her a curse, which she uses on Cecelia, tearing her from Marcus. After Anastasia ends up in the blink of death, she seek Mother Gothel's help and imprisons her afterwards. She then kills Marcus, and makes Ella the maid of the manor, shielding off her past by being known to all as Lady Tremaine with plans to awaken Anastasia. While Cinderella's Fairy Godmother sleeps, Lady Tremaine shackles her wrists and steals her wand. Later, after the Fairy Godmother wakes up, Lady Tremaine explains that she stole the wand as a teaching moment for her daughter Drizella. She tells Drizella never to rely on magic, as magic is not power, since it can be taken. Lady Tremaine then turns the Fairy Godmother to dust. At the royal ball, Lady Tremaine sneaks up behind the prince, and kills him, after Cinderella fails to do so. She tells Cinderella that the Prince rejected Drizella, then promptly frames Cinderella for the prince's murder. She watches as Cinderella and Henry Mills fight off the prince's guards and Cinderella escapes the castle. Lady Tremaine and some of the palace guards then track down Henry in the forest, and take him to her home, imprisoning him in Cinderella's old room. She gives instructions to Drizella to kill Henry. The next morning, as Lady Tremaine discovers Henry's abandoned shackles, Wish Realm Hook visits her, saying that he can help get rid of Henry if she helps him in return. He asks her to make him look like the other version of himself so that Emma Swan will fall in love with him. Tremaine agrees to help him, and with the help of Fairy Godmother's wand, transforms him into a spitting image of the other Hook. She initially tried to use Henry's and Drizella's heart to awake her daughter, but failed to do so. Upon the birth of Lucy, Lady Tremaine gives a drop of her blood to the heroes in order to use blood magic to turn Drizella to stone, which lasts for eight years before she is freed by Gothel. After the Dark Curse is cast by Regina upon Gothel and Drizella poisoning a captured Henry to make her cast it, Lady Tremaine is sent to the Land Without Magic. In the 2015 Film In the 2015 film of Disney and which directed by Kenneth Branagh (who played Viktor Cherevin and Gilderoy Lockhart) , Lady Tremaine is the film's main antagonist too and portrayed in Branagh's movie by the actress 'Cate Blanchett '''who also portrayed Irina Spalko in ''Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and also portrayed Hela in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film, Thor: Ragnarok. Gallery Lady Tremaine/Gallery Trivia * Tremaine's voice was done by the late Eleanor Audley, who went on to voice the evil fairy enchantress named Maleficent in Disney's Sleeping Beauty, and both villainesses also share the same current voice actress, Susanne Blakeslee. * Despite singing the first verse of "Sing Sweet Nightingale" during her daughters' music lesson, Lady Tremaine is one of a few "serious and non-comedic" female Disney Villains to not have a song of her own. * Tremaine is the first villain in a "Disney Princess" film to not die (the second being Governor Ratcliffe and the third being Prince Hans). ** On a related note, during Walt Disney's lifetime, Lady Tremaine was the only villain in a "Disney Princess" film to not die (as Governor Ratcliffe and Prince Hans appeared after Walt Disney's death). * Along with Man, Gaston LeGume, Scar, Judge Claude Frollo, Governor Ratcliffe, Madame Medusa, Lots-O Huggin' Bear, and Prince Hans, Tremaine is considered to be one of the most hated Disney villains because of her cruel treatment to Cinderella and her attempts to keep Cinderella from ever being happy. * In the sequels, Tremaine's dress color changes from her original red to purple. Either this was an animation error or that she may have more than one dress in her wardrobe. Category:Characters Category:Cinderella characters Category:Females Category:Humans Category:Parents Category:Stepparents Category:Villainess Category:Mothers Category:Greedy characters Category:Wealthy Category:Abusers Category:Liars Category:Criminals Category:Masterminds Category:Disney characters Category:Antagonist